Be a pineapple! There may be spikey bits but you can still stand tall, wear a crown and be sweet on the inside.

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The part where I look a little crazy

Initially I was worried that I couldn’t be me in my small town. Heck, I still am worried but at least I’m worrying whilst I’m being me. People will get used to it. There will be less eye rolls and curious looks, eventually.

Except for maybe during this moment

We had our school fete. I love a good school fete. Rides, trash and treasure, fudge, craft, cake stalls, crazy parent horse races, teacher sponge throw, live bands, beer and steak master classes, fireworks, food galore, overexcited kids during the day and very merry parents and teachers at night. Hang on, this is the story of one fete in particular. The fete to outdo all fetes back in my big city. I was used to being a bit of a crazy feature at this school fete. I was the mascot. I created the position for myself so that I had a great excuse to dress up. They got it. And I got a little bit famous. Hello page 3 girl! I remember mentioning the idea of a mascot earlier in the year in my small town when the talk of the school fete came up. This was when the eye rolls started. But, I believe you can never be afraid to have a bit of fun, so I kept at it. We would see how this new fete compared.

The day arrived and I had managed to secure myself a costume. The most bizarre costume a girl could wear. And I wear a lot of costumes. I tried to keep it a bit of a secret from those who would freak out at the thought or try to discourage me. No one understood why I was wearing a costume of an emu. A footy player riding an emu to be exact. I wasn’t sure I knew why I was continuing this big city tradition that no one in my small town was aware of either. My ultimate dream has always been to be a mascot or to work as a character in a shopping centre or some big theme park, so this was a start.

There were stockings, stuffed with padding hanging down from my front. These pretend legs were decorated in footy shorts and footy boots. Then there were my long legs dressed in black to make the emu. There were emu feathers everywhere. I left a trail wherever I went. My emu feet were so large that I had to hoist them up for each forwards step. It was a work out. There was a long emu neck and head that I could control using my hands. And then there was my head awkwardly placed on top. It was definitely a sight. It was also a bit of a hazard to passers-by. I was definitely getting attention, I’m just not sure if all of it was good. In my head it was all a bit of fun and a great way to entertain the children. By the looks on other’s faces, I was a puzzle to be solved. Some people even looked at me as though I had a piece missing to my puzzle. Others just laughed which was okay because I was laughing too. Especially when, dressed as an emu, I went for a ride on a real camel.

All in a day’s work. I’m trying to slowly but surely widen people’s perspective on life and show them how you can make any moment fun. I’m hopefully breaking down people’s walls of comfort by not being afraid to be a little bit silly myself.

The funniest moment of this whole crazy day was when one of the firemen working at the fete checked if I was single and asked for my phone number. Seriously. I’m not sure what that says about him, or me. But, talk about unexpected. I didn’t give it to him because my number is safely in someone else’s hands. I don’t think I want to share it around with anyone else at the moment (I might tell you all about that in my next post).

So, the moral of this story is that I am learning that I can be me wherever I go. Even though it’s hard for people to accept me as just me sometimes. It takes a while. I just promised myself that I wouldn’t change for anyone because I actually love me. I’ll just keep growing and letting myself change where I want to change. I’ll let new things in and I’ll add to my life, rather than taking the things that I love away. I’ll also just continue to be a random, quirky character that no one would dare to clone.